We need to improve – Pauw

Banyana Banyana head coach Vera Pauw says not being in camp for a long time meant the players were almost starting afresh when they faced Zimbabwe in an international friendly match on Sunday, 15 May 2016.

Banyana Banyana head coach Vera Pauw says not being in camp for a long time meant the players were almost starting afresh when they faced Zimbabwe in an international friendly match on Sunday, 15 May 2016.

South Africa won the clash 1-0 courtesy of a Refiloe Jane strike in the 61st minute at a chilly and rain-soaked Makhulong Stadium in Tembisa.

But Pauw was also full of praise for her charges.

“It was actually much better than I expected because at training we lacked cohesion because of being out of camp for about four weeks. We couldn’t find each other and coming to this game I thought we were not going to play as well as we wanted to.

“In general, I was happy with what I saw against Zimbabwe, we controlled the match but did not convert most of the chances that came our way,” said Pauw.

Despite few scoring chances, the Banyana Banyana mentor left Tembisa a happy individual with the type of the workout from her charges ahead of their trip to Netherlands in two weeks time.

“We can only improve from where we are. We need to be firmer, stronger, more direct and more opportunistic to be at the required level of the Olympics. Due to lack of not working together for a long period we could see the tempo going down towards the last minute of the game – which was expected.

“This shows how important these training camps are. We are now more or less at a lower level. But I am happy with the win because we played against an Olympic-bound team. I think we were by far the better team even though we always had to be very alert because they are more direct than us.”

Both Banyana Banyana and Zimbabwe are the two African sides that will represent the continent at the upcoming 2016 Rio Olympics in August.

The Sasol-sponsored Banyana Banyana’s next assisgnment will be facing 13th –ranked Holland in two international friendly matches.

The clashes will take place on Saturday, 4 June with the second one scheduled for Tuesday, 7 June. Both encounters will take place at the Mandemakers Stadium, RKC Waalwijk, Waalwijk in The Netherlands with1 5h00 and 19h00 starts respectively.